[11/05/12 - 11:06 PM] Development Update: Monday, November 5 By The Futon Critic Staff (TFC)
LOS ANGELES (thefutoncritic.com) -- The latest development news, culled from recent wire reports:
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FEEL THE FORCE (ABC, New!) - Bill Lawrence ("Cougar Town") has snagged a put pilot commitment from the Alphabet for a domestic take on Georgia Pritchett's short-lived U.K. comedy, about "two rookie female cops who struggle to prove themselves in a male-dominated police force." Lawrence will pen the single-camera project with Jeff Ingold also executive producing via their Warner Bros. Television-based Doozer banner. The original six-episode series was broadcast here on BBC America in 2007. (Deadline.com)GATES (NBC) - Cathy Yuspa and Josh Goldsmith's comedy - about the hijinks that ensue when parents drop off and pick up their kids at school each day - has been formally ordered to pilot. 20th Century Fox Television is behind the single-camera project with Kapital Entertainment's Aaron Kaplan and Feelgood Fiction's Laurence Bowen and Philip Clarke are executive producing alongside the duo. Andrew Collins, Richard Preddy, Ava Vidal, Dan Sefton and Abigail Wilson created the original incarnation, which aired on the U.K.'s Sky Living earlier this year. (Deadline.com)NCIS: LOS ANGELES (CBS) - The Eye is reportedly mulling a new planted spin-off of the "NCIS" franchise. Executive producer Shane Brennan is spearheading the effort, which will "follow a small mobile team of agents, who are forced to live and work together, as they crisscross the country solving crimes." As has become custom - from "NCIS" on "JAG" and "NCIS: LA" on "NCIS" - the proposed characters will be featured in a two-part episode during the parent series. CBS Television Studios will produce the hour should it move forward. (Deadline.com)PHYS ED (ABC Family) - Samm Levine, Sunkrish Bala and Chelsea Harris are the latest additions to the comedy pilot, about a high school's star jock, Ed (Ryan Sypek), who returns to teach at his former alma mater only to find that, even though he's changed, nothing else really has. Levine will play Matt Nealy, "a nerdy and needy chemistry teacher and a bit of a gossip who makes quick friends with Ed"; with Bala as Alan Rapaport, "an English teacher who likes being the alpha male at the school and feels an overpowering urge to put Ed in his place, as if they were both still in high school"; and Harris as Wendy Kleinman, "the hot history teacher and cheerleading coach who is rumored to be having an affair with Alan." Kate Lang Johnson also stars in the multi-camera project, from writer David H. Steinberg and director Ted Wass. (THR.com)AND IN OTHER NEWS... - Peter Gallagher will visit "How I Met Your Mother" as "the cocky and aloof professor who taught Ted architecture during his time at Wesleyan University" (TVGuide.com); Gillian Vigman will guest on "Cougar Town" as "a quirky woman who sweeps Bobby off his feet in the aisles of a Target-esque super store" (TVLine.com); Liza Weil is bound for "Bunheads" as the sister of Stacey Oristano's Truly (TVLine.com); Bridget Regan is set to recur on "Beauty and the Beast" as Vincent's onetime fiancé who believes he died in Afghanistan (TVLine.com);
Jane Seymour has been cast as the mother of Lucy Punch's B.J. on "Ben & Kate"(TVLine.com); Aisha Tyler is bound for "Glee" as the mother of Jacob Artist's Jake (TVLine.com); Coldplay drummer Will Champion will make a cameo on the new season of "Game of Thrones"(EW.com); Michelle Trachtenberg is set to visit "Criminal Minds" as "a stalker who goes haywire after being denied a job" (EW.com); and Pedro Pascal will recur on USA's "Graceland" as "a tough but charming FBI agent with a rocky experience at the Bureau" (THR.com).
